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Wednesday, July 30, 2014

Well my mom finally ran out of cards and has asked for 25 more (she has been asking for awhile actually) so I am back to doing some card making! Today I scouted around for some challenges to get me going and I am submitting this duo for the following:

I must admit I am a little rusty at this and despite the sketch giving ample room for a focal point I had a hard time with the tiny size!

I probably haven't bought a 6 x 6 paper pad in over 3 years. So I have a drawer half full of paper, none of which I like anymore - at least most of it I am over. However I did find a couple pieces I liked! I wanted to do a semi-mixed media type focal layer - the idea in my head looked much different than it turned out but I decided they are keepers. The first one has Distress Inks for the background. I pounced them on my craft sheet, misted with water and then swiped the white cardstock through it.

For the second card I wanted to do something similar but with Shimmering mists for the background. I mixed them up myself using ColourArte Primary Elements Pigment Powder, gum arabic and water. This gives me subtle color AND shimmer. I added some green polka dots by sponging ColourArte Silks Acrylic Glaze through sequin waste. Finally I stamped a floral image from Crafter's Companion on each one using Archival Ink. I added sentiments from my much loved and much used massive collection of Studio G $1 stamps - does anyone remember those? Ahhh those were the days....

I don't do tags so instead I incorporated my smaller piece into a larger page sized to fit in my 8 x 8 loose leaf journal I have been making in my Journal Soup class with Kate Crane. I followed Tim's tutorial as closely as I could - I was lacking a few products as he comes out with products far faster than my budget can keep up with now that I don't work!

My base page background followed his background and then I added a bit more to it by stamping with bubble wrap and distress paint, then I sponged embossing ink through sequin waste and sprinkled on Distress Embossing Powder for a nice tone on tone effect. Finally, I took the leftover gritty goop mix (the "sand" in his tutorial) and I spread that through the same sequin waste. I am quite pleased!

Here is a closer look at the main part - that Rock Candy crackle followed by Distress Stain is fantastic! For the "around the House" challenge I have used the packaging from an embossing folder for my embossed plastic layer and I tied my metal tag on with kitchen twine I used to use to stake my gladiolas. The Live Now tag is perfect - I am a live in the now type and my poor hubby is a plan for the future type so we tend to drive each other nuts! But there is a good reason opposites attract - we balance each other out.

This was my first time playing with the Distress Glitter - I love how it sparkles in the "tree branch" goop I made. I am thinking I need the rest of the colors - it is quite deelish! If there is anyone who would like some Distress Embossing powder super cheap let me know - I still have several jars of colors in the inventory left from my store and would be willing to part with it quite cheaply!

Thanks for having a look! Let me know what you think as I love to get comments. Did anyone else participate in either of these challenges?

Tuesday, July 15, 2014

I have been taking a class from the very talented Kate Crane called Journal Soup and having a lot of fun with it. It has forced me to go outside of my comfort zone and boy do I resist that but I am quite pleased with the results. Here is my fourth page:

Of course I couldn't resist making up my own shimmering color mists with my hands down favorite product - Primary Elements by CoulourArte.

When I tilt it in the light it just glows! NEVER gets old!

I collected a fantastic list of things to do for yourself that was posted somewhere around New Year's - I wish I had kept track of the link. I have been making journal pages with them so I can think about them and try to keep them in mind - life sure can be a struggle sometimes! I don't think I have posted all of the pages here, maybe I will. Not sure anyone would see them so I have been posting them on Facebook and leaving it at that...

Monday, July 14, 2014

Is everyone having a fun summer? Pezza has been playing in the studio with me and we decided to do the current tag tutorial on Tim's blog for July as well as incorporating the current Mixed Media Monthly Challenge - Around the House. Here is hers - she wanted to do a Christmas theme instead of the beach theme Tim did.

We don't have all of the new stuff Tim has come out with - my budget stopped being able to keep up with him years ago! But we did our best. Her background followed his and she used a cool snowflake embossing folder for her acetate layer - we used a piece of plastic packaging from an embossing folder! She decided to do foil snowflakes with alcohol ink instead of the distress embossing powder - she is obsessed with his alcohol inks, always has been.

Instead of sand she mixed up some snow using the same ingredients - she loves the distress glitter! In this picture you can really see the cool look of the tree - grungeboard tree, painted and then covered in Rock Candy Crackle and inked over with Distress Stain to seep into the cracks. She had a lot of fun with this and was so proud of the fact that she did it on her own!